Tea House Sage
Tea Reader • Fortune Teller • Emotional Alchemist
“Every cup tells a story. Some simply haven't happened yet.”
Introduction
In Underland, tea isn't simply something you drink.
It remembers.
Some teas reveal memories. Others awaken emotions. A rare few allow glimpses into possible futures. Tea House Sages have learned to read the leaves, steam, bubbles, colors, and strange shapes that gather at the bottom of a cup. Through years of study, experimentation, and perhaps a little reckless sipping, they have learned that tea can be far more powerful than anyone suspects.
You may have worked in a tea house, traveled as a fortune teller, studied emotional alchemy, or learned your craft from one of Underland's stranger tea masters. Whether your visions are genuine prophecy or simply the result of drinking too much enchanted tea is something nobody has been able to determine.
You certainly aren't telling.
- Ability Scores:
Ability Score Increase
Ability Score Increase. Increase your Wisdom score by 2 and your Charisma score by 1.
Your understanding of emotions, people, and the strange magic contained within Underland's teas has sharpened both your intuition and your ability to influence others.
- Feat:
Feat
Emotional Alchemist
You have learned to manipulate emotions through enchanted teas.
You gain the following benefits:
- Increase your Wisdom or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
- You gain proficiency with Herbalism Kits if you don't already have it.
- During a Long Rest, you can brew one simple emotional tea using your Herbalism Kit.
- Choose one emotional effect when you brew the tea: Calm, Courage, Joy, Sorrow, or Suspicion.
- A creature that drinks the tea experiences that emotion more intensely for 1 hour. The DM determines how the emotion affects roleplay.
- A creature can recognize the emotional influence after succeeding on an Intelligence (Arcana) check against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier.
The tea does not magically force a creature to take a particular action. It influences emotion, not free will.
- Skill Proficiencies:
Skill Proficiencies
Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Arcana
Skill Proficiencies Description:
Your years of studying enchanted teas have taught you to recognize subtle emotional changes, hidden intentions, magical influences, and unusual properties within Underland's strange brews. - Tool Proficiencies:
Tool Proficiencies
Tool Proficiencies: Choose one: Herbalism Kit or Alchemist's Supplies, Brewer's Supplies
Tool Proficiencies Description:
Tea House Sages develop practical knowledge of herbs, magical ingredients, brewing techniques, and alchemical reactions. Some specialize in traditional herbal teas, while others experiment with stranger ingredients. - Languages:
Languages
Languages: Choose one of the following:
- Sylvan
- One language of your choice
Languages Description:
Tea houses are gathering places for travelers, merchants, nobles, fae, and strange creatures from across Underland. You learned another language through conversations with customers, traveling tea merchants, or the study of ancient tea recipes. - Equipment:
Equipment
You begin with the following equipment:
- An ornate enchanted teacup
- A small tea kettle
- An Herbalism Kit or Alchemist's Supplies
- Three mysterious tea blends
- A notebook filled with predictions
- A shawl or coat covered in pockets
- 8 gp
Alternatively, you may take the starting wealth determined by your DM.
Your tea readings have revealed strange things over the years. Roll a d6 or choose one.
| d6 | Your Latest Prediction |
|---|---|
| 1 | A crown will fall. |
| 2 | Someone in your party will betray someone else. |
| 3 | A door will appear where there wasn't one before. |
| 4 | Someone you thought dead is still alive. |
| 5 | The Queen Beneath Underland will awaken. |
| 6 | You will eventually drink tea with Death. |
Given a quiet moment, a cup of tea, and a willing subject, you can perform a tea reading.
The reading takes approximately 10 minutes. During the reading, you examine the leaves, steam, bubbles, color, and residue within the cup.
At the end of the reading, you receive a vague emotional impression or symbolic omen concerning the creature's immediate future.
The omen might manifest as an image, emotion, sensation, sound, word, or strange symbol.
The information is intentionally vague. The DM determines the exact nature of the omen.
A reading cannot directly reveal exact names, locations, dates, statistics, or guaranteed future events. The future of Underland is strange, shifting, and rarely as straightforward as it appears in a teacup.
You can use this feature once per Long Rest.
Spell List
Spell List Introduction
Some Tea House Sages learn to weave their tea magic into traditional spellcasting. Their magic often manifests through steam, aromas, floating tea leaves, glowing liquid, or delicate porcelain.
If your DM allows this background to grant spells, the following spells may be added to your class's spell list.
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|
Spell List Extended
Cantrips: Guidance, Druidcraft
1st Level: Charm Person, Healing Word
2nd Level: Calm Emotions, Detect Thoughts
3rd Level: Clairvoyance, Catnap
4th Level: Divination, Confusion
5th Level: Commune, Modify Memory
The DM determines whether these spells are added to a character's class spell list or granted through another appropriate magical feature.
Suggested Characteristics
Suggested Characteristics
Tea House Sages tend to be observant, peculiar, mysterious, comforting, or just a little unsettling. Their constant exposure to enchanted teas and strange predictions often gives them unusual habits.
Use the following tables to determine your character's personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws.
Personality Traits
Roll 1d8 or choose one.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I speak in riddles whenever I'm nervous. |
| 2 | I always offer people tea, regardless of the situation. |
| 3 | I have an unnerving habit of staring into people's cups. |
| 4 | I insist that everything has meaning. |
| 5 | I constantly predict my own death. |
| 6 | I laugh at inappropriate moments. |
| 7 | I remember everyone's favorite tea. |
| 8 | I am suspicious of anyone who refuses a cup. |
Ideals
Roll 1d6 or choose one.
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Truth. Every secret eventually reveals itself. |
| 2 | Choice. The future isn't written. |
| 3 | Knowledge. Understanding something is worth any price. |
| 4 | Comfort. Everyone deserves somewhere safe to drink tea. |
| 5 | Mystery. Some things should remain unexplained. |
| 6 | Balance. Every emotion has its purpose. |
Bonds
Roll 1d6 or choose one.
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | Mr. Pink taught me everything I know. |
| 2 | Someone once ignored my warning and disappeared. |
| 3 | I possess a prophecy concerning someone important. |
| 4 | My teacup belonged to a dead Queen. |
| 5 | I am searching for a particular tea that supposedly doesn't exist. |
| 6 | I promised someone I would find the meaning behind a strange prophecy. |
Flaws
Roll 1d6 or choose one.
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I believe my own predictions too easily. |
| 2 | I drink enchanted tea without thinking about the consequences. |
| 3 | I cannot keep a secret after drinking the wrong tea. |
| 4 | I see omens everywhere. |
| 5 | I am terrified that my greatest prophecy will come true. |
| 6 | I believe I can solve almost any problem with the right cup of tea. |
Contacts
Contacts Description
Tea houses are crossroads of Underland. Travelers gossip over steaming cups, nobles whisper behind porcelain, merchants trade secrets, and fortune seekers search for answers.
Because of your profession, you have likely developed contacts among tea merchants, travelers, fortune tellers, herbalists, nobles, adventurers, and other strange inhabitants of Underland.
Roll a d6 or choose one.
| d6 | Contact |
|---|---|
| 1 | A traveling tea merchant who knows where to find rare ingredients. |
| 2 | A former customer who believes one of your predictions saved their life. |
| 3 | An herbalist who trades ingredients for information. |
| 4 | A noble who secretly visits your tea house for readings. |
| 5 | A fortune teller who claims your visions are dangerous. |
| 6 | An old friend of Mr. Pink who knows something about your former teacher. |
Y
ou once worked under the infamous Mr. Pink, learning the strange art of emotional tea brewing.
Your time with Pink taught you that emotions can be bottled, brewed, intensified, suppressed, and occasionally weaponized.
Prerequisite
You must have a connection to Mr. Pink or have the DM's permission to select this variant.
Variant Feature
Pink's Apprentice
You know the secrets behind some of Mr. Pink's unusual emotional teas.
During a Long Rest, you can brew one special tea from ingredients you possess. Choose one of the following effects:
Tea of Calm. The drinker has advantage on saving throws against being frightened for 1 hour.
Tea of Courage. The drinker gains temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus.
Tea of Joy. The drinker gains advantage on one Charisma check made within the next hour.
Tea of Sorrow. The drinker's emotions become unusually introspective. They have advantage on one Wisdom (Insight) check made within the next hour.
Tea of Suspicion. The drinker becomes particularly alert to deception and gains advantage on one Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Insight) check made within the next hour.
A creature can benefit from only one of your emotional teas at a time.
The DM may determine that certain rare ingredients are required to brew particular teas.
Rather than specializing in fortune telling, you became an alchemist of emotion.
You understand the relationship between magical ingredients and emotional states, allowing you to create teas that subtly alter the feelings of those who drink them.
Prerequisite
Proficiency with an Herbalism Kit or Alchemist's Supplies.
Variant Feature
Emotion Brewer
At the end of a Long Rest, you can brew one emotional tea.
Choose one emotion:
- Calm
- Courage
- Joy
- Love
- Sorrow
- Anger
- Fear
- Suspicion
The tea remains potent for 24 hours.
When a creature drinks the tea, the chosen emotion becomes noticeably stronger for 1 hour. The effect does not control the creature's actions or force it to behave against its nature.
The DM determines how the intensified emotion manifests.
You can brew only one emotional tea at a time using this feature.
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